LForce: I Wish
by BatmanLoonaticsFan96
Summary: After Zara makes a wish that Zack had never turned evil, she ends up in an alternate reality where things are even worse... Can she get home before her world falls apart and takes what's left of her friends with it? Sequel to "Twin Torture"
1. Chapter 1

L-Force: I Wish…

Yahoo! I got this one up really quickly! Anyway, the last few paragraphs of the previous story are a prequel for this story, so you better have read them. Well, I hope you enjoy this one, it's the first one in this series that I finished writing before publishing it, and I put a lot more effort into it than the last one, even if it is pretty much based on the Wizards of Waverly Place Movie later on (I didn't mean to do that, I just got stuck and decided to do it). Hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 1

Kyra let 2 girls and a boy into the hideout. "I understand if you're a little uncomfortable about this with the Dark Side out there, but we protect each other and we won't let anything happen to any of you, trust me."

"It's dangerous out there," said the dark-haired girl whose green eyes were flecked with red, "How can you be so sure that we're safe here?"

"Because with you guys, there's…" She did some quick counting on her fingers. "…29 of us."

"Don't worry about Uma, we're watching her," said the blonde girl with sea blue eyes.

Kyra nodded. "Alright, all you really need to do is meet everyone." She whistled as loudly as possible, making everyone jump and come to attention. "Is everyone here? OK. This is Uma…" The dark-haired girl glanced at them all and then leaned back against the wall. "…Raina…" The blonde girl smiled and nodded. "…and Harry." The ferret boy with dark eyes waved. "OK, this is Ace, Lexi, Tech, Rev, Duck, Slam, me, Nathan, Sandra, Lindy, Arra, Byron, Darryl, Trinity and Orion, Willis, Cassandra, Gail and Howie, Ingrid, Max, Paula, Quinn, and—last but no least—Z—" She looked around. "Where's Zara?"

Everyone else looked. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed wish-granter was nowhere to be seen.

Kyra raced off to Zara's room and frantically started knocking on the door. "Zara!" No answer. She opened the door and walked in. Zara was gone. She ran back to Rev. "Rev, is she, by any chance, still on your radar?"

Rev's eyes flashed rev. "No. She's-completely-disappeared. Not-even-on-my-grid."

Kyra sighed. "So where is she?"

_Meanwhile…_

Zara lay on a bed, her eyes shut tight. Then slowly, they opened. She blinked a few times at what she saw. She looked around and sat upright. She wasn't in the hideout, she was in…her house. The house that had been burned down almost 2 years ago. How was this possible? Then she remembered…

_"I wish Zack had never turned evil!" She looked at her hand… Before she could stop herself, she snapped her fingers._

But this couldn't be the outcome of that wish. The house had burned down over 2 years ago and Zack had only been evil for about a month and a half. Were her powers on the fritz? What had happened?

"Hey, Zar!"

She lit up upon hearing that familiar voice. Maybe her wish had come true after all.

In came a boy who could have been her twin. Sorry, let rephrase that: the boy that _was_ her twin. "We gotta get going. Are you—"

"Zack!" She pounced on him and hugged him as hard as she could.

"Zara…choking…not breathing."

"Oh, sorry." She let go. "You're OK!"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, with all that's been going on for the past few years."

"Right, with our powers from the meteor and the Dark Side."

"Yeah, exactly."

"Yeah, a lot's changed, huh?"

"You have no idea."

"Come on, Kyra's gonna kill us if we're late again." He left.

Zara didn't stop smiling. "Huh?" She followed him to their backyard and into their tree-house. _Why are we going here? Shouldn't the hideout still be up and running…or the tower? Then again, if we're still at the house, I guess this is closer. _She went along with it and got into the tree with Zack.

"Sorry we're late," Zack told Nathan and Kyra, "This little Goldilocks refused to wake up."

Zara playfully smacked him, still smiling.

"Alright, we've gotta talk about putting up the resistance," said Nathan.

"Nat, for the last time, we're not going up against the Dark Side," said Kyra.

Zara stared at her, her smile fading. Where was the leader who never backed down? Zack's turning had no effect on Kyra, she'd been brilliant well before that.

"So what if they've got us outnumbered?" asked Nathan, "We can do some pretty cool stuff."

Zara's look transferred to him. "Outnumbered?" With Zack on _their_ side, shouldn't it be the other way around?

"Nat, just 'cause you and I have some powers doesn't mean we can take them," said Kyra, "I mean, you don't have any offense powers and sometimes animals aren't enough."

Zara kept looking at her. "You and I"? Why weren't they talking about all 4 of them like they were all mutants? Wait a minute… Then it hit her. While Kyra, Nathan, and Zack kept going on, she was thinking. Zack, in her dream, had said he'd been evil longer than she realized… He'd beaten up that boy at the hospital when he got out of his coma, was he evil then? Yeah, he was. 'Cause he was evil throughout his coma! When she made that wish, she'd been thinking "I wish he'd never gone to the Dark Side," but it had come out "I wish he'd never turned evil." So that's the wish that got granted. That was it! His coma is what made him evil, she could feel it! His power had been mixing together inside him during his coma. So his power was what was making him evil. So the only way to avoid him being evil was if he'd never been affected by the meteor in the first place! In this reality, Zack had no power so L-Force had never formed!

"What do you think, Zara?" asked Kyra, intruding on Zara's thoughts.

Zara looked at them, panicking. "I think we have a problem."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tech was typing away at a computer. "Alright, if I can tap into the security video feed in Zara's room, I can show exactly what's happened in the past 2 hours that might explain where she went. And how she went there without us noticing."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute," said Kyra, "You have a security video feed on our rooms?"

"OH! No, nothing like that! I mean, there's no audio or anything anyway, so—"

Orion hit a button. "The activity log says that you were watching Trinity's room for like 15 hours yesterday."

Tech stomped on his foot and pushed him back. He closed the activity log and opened the video from Zara's room. "Alright, Kyra comes in…" He fast-forwarded. "24 minutes of girl talk… And they're both there 20 minutes ago." He hit play.

_Kyra whirled around and shouted something. She turned to look at Zara one last time before leaving._

_Zara stared after her. She hit her pillow in frustration and said something… She looked at her hand and snapped her fingers. Then she was gone._

"What just happened?" asked Lexi.

"She granted her own wish," answered Kyra, "Question is: what was the wish?"

"Bet you're wishing you had audio now, aren't you?" Raina asked Tech. He glared at her.

"There's gotta be some way we can—" Lindy was cut off when the alarm started going off.

The group raced into the main room and Tech opened a panel in the wall by the entry way to reveal a keypad. He hit a few buttons and a hole in the roof opened up, dropping in…

"Xavier!" Cassandra cried.

"Whoa! Hold your fire!" Xavier instantly responded, "I'm not here because of the Dark Side! …Well, actually, I am here because of the Dark Side, but not like that!"

"You're _defecting_?" asked Gail.

"_You're_ defecting?" asked Cassandra.

"I know it sounds crazy, but…look, I'm not the only one having second thoughts about their side. You guys lost 3 of your ranks. Cassandra's over here and now I am. Claire's not staying on her side either, she's coming in like a week. And if Priscilla weren't being held down and didn't need Cheyenne so much, she'd be over here already. I mean, she already gave you guys the _Book of Taurus_—"

"That was her?" asked Quinn.

"Yeah, and now I'm over here. Come on, help a guy out. I absolutely can_not_ go back to their place now that I've been here."

Cassandra and Kyra looked at each other, then exchanged some looks with the others, mainly Elliot who nodded his OK.

Kyra finally sighed. "Alright. Here's the deal: one of our own is missing. You help us find her and don't get in our way, we trust you and let you in. If not, you're out."

"Come on, we got some searching to do," said Duck, marching out.

"Yeah, too bad you're going with us," said Lexi.

Willis and Howie approached Xavier and nodded.

Xavier smiled. At least 2 of the team members supported him.

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara raced into her room and started sifting through her drawers. She finally stopped. "Gotcha!" She pulled out a notebook she used as her diary and flipped to June 2772. Blah, blah, blah, meteor, blah, blah, blah, AHA!

_"Apparently, the meteor's impact did something. Kyra and Nathan and I can do stuff. For some reason, Zack can't. I don't know why, he was in the same place we were. Anyway, Kyra can talk to animals and summon them; Nathan can see through stuff and in dark places; and I can't grant wishes and make people's fears come alive."_

Zara stopped smiling entirely. That couldn't be right. How on earth did she get Zack's Fear power instead of healing? Maybe Tech could explain it. TECH! The Loonatics! She dropped her journal and raced down the stairs to meet the other 3. "The Loonatics!"

"What?" asked Nathan.

"The Loonatics! They can help here! I mean, with their powers and all that they could probably…" She stopped when she saw the 3 exchange looks. "What?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Kyra, "The Loonatics aren't on our side anymore."

Zara stopped smiling. "Huh? W-What are you talking about? Ace would help anyone, of course he'd help us."

"Ace is with the Dark Side."

Zara stared at her in shock. "What? You mean like a hostage, right?"

"No, he's _with_ the Dark Side."

"What about Lexi?"

"Same thing."

"What about Tech? And Rev? And Slam?"

"They're all over there with—"

"Kyra…please tell me Duck's not evil."

Kyra blinked a couple times. "Well, I guess not…he's dead."

Zara took a few seconds and then ran back up the stairs at full speed, tears in her eyes. She grabbed the journal. "Come on…please…come on!" She found it. April 2773.

_"I can't believe it. After all this time protecting us, the Loonatics crashed under the pressure. When fighting the Dark Side, they got swept up among them. Except for poor old Danger Duck. As always, he couldn't handle the fight as well as the others. When it got too rough, the Dark Side's leader killed him. The planet will truly suffer in this battle now."_

Zara was practically crying. She threw the journal on her bed. "Oh, I wish I'd never made that wish!" She then remembered her powers. She hurriedly snapped her fingers. Nothing happened. "What?" She had wish granting even in this reality, why wouldn't it work? "I wish Zack was evil again." She snapped her fingers. She looked around. No difference. "I wish things were back to normal!" Still nothing. "Why isn't it working?"

"You don't remember that either?"

Zara whirled around to look at Zack, who'd heard her efforts at wish-granting, but not her wishes.

"The Dark Side's ritual needed the power of a mutant, they called it 'the missing ingredient.' You went in and they took yours. You can't do anything."

Zara immediately dove for her journal and turned to the recent pages to read them. July 2773:

_"It's over. We lost. I thought that, as powerful as I was, we could take the Dark Side, just the 3 of us with Zack as combat backup. But we lost. We were pretty much just a distraction for their sideline fighters. The majority of them stayed and cast the ritual. The worst part is…they took my power with them. Now there's this horrible beast pretty much ruling the planet with my power and nobody's standing up to it. It's over."_

Zara dropped her journal. That was the last entry. That was the story behind this world? The Dark Side had already completed the ritual and now everyone that wasn't dead or evil were under their control? How could this have happened? Did the world's safety really depend on Zack's being evil? And if she had no power in this realm…how was she gonna fix it? And how were the others gonna get along in the real world while she was gone?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Xavier looked at Uma, Raina, and Harry while they walked through the streets. "You 3 do what exactly?"

"My name holds true," said Raina, happy that she could introduce her powers after she hadn't gotten a chance in all the excitement of finding Zara, "_Rain_a."

"You control the weather?"

"Nope, water. Weather's Sandra's deal. I just take over wind and water."

"And I can see pretty much anything," said Harry, "Depending on the situation, kind of, actually. And I can release any of the 10 plagues."

"Wow." Xavier looked at Uma. "What about you?"

"Uma doesn't really like to talk about her powers," said Raina, "She's poisonous. And she…tears places apart with her anger…it's not pretty."

"Can we not discuss our powers with him?" asked Kyra, interrupting their conversation, "We're not certain we can trust him yet."

"I don't blame you, with my track record," said Xavier.

"Alright, now this is just getting freaky!" Duck said. He stopped walking and whirled around to face Xavier. "Why are you being so nice to us?"

"I'm trying to help here! The only way to get away from the Dark Side is to join you guys."

"Oh, yeah? How do we know you're not spying for the Dark Side? Or that this 'Claire' that supposed to be 'joining' us next week is even a real 'person'."

"What's with all the air quotes?"

"Alright, fine!" Duck grabbed Elliot. "You're telling us everything."

"Fine, but it's not much that Cassandra couldn't have already told you. They're still hiding a lot sometimes."

"Truth," Elliot said.

"But this ritual they're doing…they said they were taking all these people's souls for Wake's good and that with 300 more and a couple ingredients they don't already have, they can do it."

Elliot looked at him in fear and shock. "He's telling the truth."

They all stopped and faced them.

"They're already starting to finish the ritual?" asked Cassandra in alarm.

"Why'd you leave so suddenly?" asked Kyra, "You could've gotten more information for us."

"They would've known what I was up to," said Xavier, "I saw what they did to Priscilla and I was scared. That's why Claire's holding up the front over there for the week: so they don't come after her either and so she can keep watch on them while I'm with you guys."

"Wait," said Kyra, "What happened to Priscilla?"

"Well…after she gave you guys the book…Zack…"

"What happened? What'd he do? Xavier, just tell me—"

Xavier grabbed her and whispered something in her ears.

"EW! And ow! And ew! But mostly ow!"

"Yeah."

"What did he-?" Nathan started. Kyra told him what Xavier had told her. "Yeah, you're right. Ew and ow."

"Alright, come on!" Paula pulled them off to the library.

Quinn started scanning the shelves in the supernatural section. Suddenly, he stopped. He pulled out a book and threw it to Tech. "Page 189."

Tech flipped as fast as he could. "Alternate realities?"

"Let me see that," said Trinity, "Magic is my field, tech is Tech's." She started reading. "AHA! Sometimes, wish-granters make something happen that affects the whole of the course of time in their reality, and they and the person who made the wish are transported into an alternate reality the wish creates. In this case, Zara is both."

"So what was her wish and how could it have altered the course of reality?" asked Kyra.

"Well, what were you talking about when she made the wish?" asked Orion.

"Well, we were talking about…Zack! She must have wished something that had to do with Zack!"

"OK, so all we have to do is reverse it to get her back here, right?" asked Raina.

"Well…" Trinity said, looking over the book, "…let's see…'In the case of a wish-granting demon, all wishes granted are reversed by breaking their talisman, also taking away their power.' Yeah, that doesn't help. OK, wish-granting spell…mutants! 'In the case of a wish-granting mutant'…" She looked at them all. "…'only the person who made the wish can reverse it.'"

Kyra sighed. "And if she wanted to come back, she'd be here already."

"We don't know that's true," said Gail, "Maybe she can't do it for some reason. Maybe her wish…maybe in the reality she's in now, her powers aren't working."

"Why would they be doing that?" asked Kyra.

"Well, it depends on what effects took place from her wish, whatever it was," said Trinity.

"Well, what else does it say?"

"Uh…'There is only one other way in existence that could possibly reverse the effects of a reality-changing spell: the Stone of Dreams.'"

_In Zara's reality…_

"'The Stone of Dreams,'" Zara read in the library from the exact same book Trinity was reading in the reality she belonged in, "'La Pierdra de los Suenos has not been located, but is believe to be hidden somewhere in the South American area based on its Spanish roots, and is likely to be found in the forests of the Caribbean since so much magic is home to that area.' Well, it's about to be mine if I'm ever gonna get my powers back."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea."

Zara jumped. She then turned around and saw… "Valerie!" She started to hug her.

Valerie tried to push her off, but was unsuccessful. She grew her claws and swiped at her.

Zara grabbed her arm where Valerie had scratched her.

"Sorry about that. Getting a little too friendly."

"Well, we are friendly. I mean, we're still on the same side, right?" Zara started to get the idea that Valerie may still be with the Dark Side in this reality and started to back away.

"Yeah, for like 3 months now."

Zara calmed down. Then she started to look Valerie up and down.

Something was wrong. Valerie's hair was slightly darker, as were her eyes. Her fingernails that turned to claws were polished dark black and she wore fishnet chokers and wristbands. She also wore a skin-tight studded belt and ripped jeans and a dark black tee with a skull-and-bones pattern. And she was wearing dark grey sneakers instead of the normal flip-flops.

Zara looked at her. "Are you OK?"

"Fine except for the fact that you haven't updated in like 2 weeks. Where's your log?"

"What?"

"Oh, there it is." Valerie snatched a PDA-like object from Zara's pocket and started looking through it. She smiled. "Alright, so you did catch your little super-buddies planning up a resistance. Good to know. Boy, Deirdre's gonna be happy…or upset depending on how you look at it."

"Val, what are you talking about?"

Valerie groaned. "Did they zap your brain or something? You're spying on them for us. If you want Wake to give you back your power, you'll have to make a report every once in a while."

Zara stared at her. She was spying on her own brother and best friends?

Valerie turned back to the book. "Of course, I guess the Stone of Dreams could be quite useful if you can find it. I guess the instructions on location are fairly vague but you could stop by the Caribbean, maybe make a few stops and interview some old Witches."

Zara sighed. "I can't believe this."

"Well, believe it. You better get going within the week or Wake may throw another temper tantrum and shake the earth and we all know haw bad that could get." She gave Zara back the log. "Just remember to call in every few days." She left, looking at her with a smirk as she walked off.

Zara kept staring at the book she'd been reading and pondering the situation with her new info. She'd been working for the Dark Side as their spy on the "rebels" to get her power back? She'd never do that! Then again…that book did say something about wishes "giving you what you need and not what you want" sometimes…was this reality just a glimpse of the near future in a different context? No, it couldn't be; in this reality, she had one of Zack's powers and he had none. Maybe she was in his place in this reality, just took longer to realize it because Deirdre had the Loonatics and they weren't driving her crazy and promoting her to blow up their headquarters and put Zara in a coma like she'd done to Zack in the real reality. Zara had to get home now. She started looking at the book again. Then she remembered something else from the dream Zack had put her in during the "torture chamber" phase of his spell on her…he said he was Wake's successor! Maybe in this world, _she_ was Wake's successor because one twin had to be it and that's why she had one of Zack's powers in his place! But the Dark Side and Wake didn't realize it for so long because she was fighting for the good side with a good power so they didn't think to zap her out of it (pun partially intended)! And now the darkness in her was clawing it's way out as she lost her powers and she was working with the bad guys to get her power back… She absolutely had to get back in her home reality so that couldn't happen. She would never hurt her brother, no matter what the case!

Zara reexamined the location given by the book about where the Stone of Dreams could be and headed out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Alright, let's think about this," said Paula, pacing back and forth in the library, "Based on how Zara has been acting lately when it comes to Zack, we should be able to figure out what her wish was. Then we might be able to do a spell or something to fix it and not have to worry about finding this Stone of Dreams thing."

"OK, let's think about this," said Tech. He went over to grab a note-board and a marker and drew a straight line along it. "OK…" He made a mark at the very beginning of the line and wrote 2756. "Here's where Zack and Zara were born." He made another mark further down the line and wrote 2772. "And this is where the meteor hit." He made one final mark near the end and wrote 2775. "And this is right now. Now if Zara's wish affected something just before, after, or around the time the meteor hit, then she created an alternate timeline entirely in the reality she's in now." He drew a straight line down from the 2772 mark and then continued the horizontal line and wrote 2775 on it in a different color marker. "So this…" He circled the alternate 2775. "…is where she is now. All we have to do is find out what reality she's in and we can teleport her back here."

"Hold on a second, you're anachronistic," Kyra said. They all looked at her. "The timeline's wrong." She grabbed the alternate marker and erased the 5. "See, if her reality is affected so much that L-Force had never formed, it would never have taken a year to meet you guys, split up for a year and 2 months, or have Zack's 2 month coma and in her reality, it wouldn't be late 2775 by now, but late 277_3_." She wrote a 3 in the place of the 5.

"OK, how does that help?" asked Duck.

"It might not, but it gives us a good idea about the output of her wish, assuming that we're right," said Trinity.

"Isn't that sort of circular reasoning?" asked Nathan.

"Sort of, but this is more likely right," said Trinity, "I mean, think about it…" She turned over the page of the board the timeline was on, took the marker, and started a list. "OK, we know that the wish had something to do with Zack…" She made a – and wrote "Zack" next to it. "…and affected something the meteor did, thus making L-Force nonexistent." She made another – and wrote "No L-Force" next to it. "Now I find it highly unlikely that she would intentionally wish that L-Force didn't exist, so that was probably an unknown effect of her wish about Zack." She wrote an x next to "No L-Force." "And, another thing, if there is no L-Force, something must have happened to us, so the Dark Side is probably stronger in that world, which is another thing she would never intentionally wish for." She made another line, wrote "Dark Side stronger" and put another x. "Now, there must be some way that all of these can be connected that would lead to a wish we know she would make."

"Hold on a second," said Kyra, "She made that wish after Zack himself had been torturing her _through their link_. So even though their _powers_ are getting stronger, they themselves are getting weaker by fighting on opposite sides of the board because they have not spoken to each other outside of that dream she had in the past month."

"Again, how does that help?" asked Duck.

"Well, Zack was obviously telling her stuff that was 'true yet hurtful' in that dream, so she must have known that. That must be something supporting her wish."

Trinity hurriedly made another line and wrote "Strengthened twins" and didn't put an x next to it.

"So these 4 points must connect somehow…" Orion thought out loud, "…in some way that would make sense…"

Xavier noticed something. "Hold on a second." He pushed Orion aside and looked at the list. Then he looked at the timeline again. Then he reexamined the list. "Give me the marker." Trinity did. He quickly wrote something out on the bottom of the page with the list. He then circled it a few times and moved aside to let them see it:

"I wish Zack wasn't evil."

"That's it!" Trinity cried, "I mean, not only did she lose him to the Dark Side and Wake, but she was tortured by him for pretty much 2 whole days! As soon as Kyra mentioned Zack…"

"…and how his defection had led away Valerie and Jake…" Kyra added.

"…she snapped and wished he had never defected in the first place."

"But that still doesn't fit," said Nathan, "I mean…" He pulled the timeline back down. "…look at the timeline. Zack's defection took place in 2775. According to you guys, her wish affected 277_2_ and put her current position in 2773."

"Well, it has to fit somehow…" Trinity started thinking. After a few seconds, she snapped her fingers. "His coma."

"What?"

"He was evil when he woke up from his coma. He wasn't on the Dark Side yet, 'cause he hadn't defected. Her wish wasn't that he'd never gone to the Dark Side, it was that he'd never been evil, period. The only way he could possibly have been evil directly after his coma is if he were evil _through_ his coma. His power must have been colliding with his soul's deepest, darkest desires and turning them around. That's why he succumbed to Wake's dark magic so easily. Which means that his power is what made him evil. So in the reality Zara's in now, Zack is still a mortal."

"Which explains how her wish affected 2772," said Tech, "Because her wish affected an aspect of the meteor's crash: the shockwave did not hit Zack. Thus, she was placed by her own power in an alternate 2773!"

"Where L-Force never formed because Zack was never a mutant!" Kyra continued putting together.

"So the Dark Side is automatically stronger because all of L-Force's newest recruits had to do something with their power, so they went to the winning side and made it stronger!" Orion continued. Then he realized something. "Thus ensuring…that the Dark Side succeeded in raising Wake." They all looked at him. "Already." He sighed. "Think about it: we were the only thing holding back Deirdre. If we were the ones _helping_ Deidre, she would've completed the ritual back in 2773 when she got the Jewel she was looking for and everyone who stood up to them just gave them more souls for the ritual…so it's already done."

Kyra sighed. "Zara and Zack are still together…but she lost the world."

"She would never wish for that intentionally," said Gail, "Why hasn't she come back?"

Xavier remembered something. "Wait a second…that's it! The 'missing ingredients' the Dark Side was looking for! They had to have gotten them for the ritual to have succeeded! Maybe one of the 'ingredients' is the power of a mutant and they took Zara's!"

"That's why she can't come back!" said Nathan, "The reality has caught up with her and taken her powers so she can't use them to come home!"

"Hold on," Xavier said, "There's one other thing…Zack's not just acting as Deirdre and Wake's top warrior, Wake said he was supposed to be her successor." They all looked at him. "So if he has no power in Zara's reality, who is it?"

Gail sighed and looked out the windows at the purple sky…

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara, leaving the library, gazed up at the blood red sky tinted with orange and yellow from the clouds. She had to fix this. If the Dark Side had already completed their ritual, it was only a matter of time before Wake raised her fellow hell-children and destroyed the world she was ruling. Zara raced back to her house, snuck into her room while the others weren't looking, and packed a few things in her backpack to get ready for the long trip she was about to make. The last thing she got ready to put in was the PDA thing that Valerie had said she'd been using to spy on Zack and Nathan and Kyra with. "I won't be needing this anymore." She threw it away and put her journal in her bag instead. She then proceeded to open the window and jump out and run off.

Zack then came into the room. "Z…" He looked around. Nothing and no one. He sighed and then noticed something glowing in the corner. He went over to look and pulled the log out of the trash can. He started looking at it and the files on it… "What?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Quinn was back at the hideout, looking over the _Book of Taurus _again. "No, no, no. Nothing." He threw it against the wall and something fell out of it.

Ingrid noticed this. She picked it up. "Quinn…what's this?"

Quinn looked at it. "That wasn't there before." He went over and grabbed it. He read over it. "It's a prophecy. Of course! Deirdre must have stolen this, too! When I speed-read the book, I didn't speed-read whatever was inside it, so I didn't even know this thing was in there!"

"What's it say? Let me see!" Raina grabbed it. She looked it over. "OK, blah, blah, blah, fire, blah, blah, blah, destruction, blah, blah, blah, WAKE! AHA! 'And it shall come to pass that at the close of the era, no defender shall stop the hell-child from raising.' It's talking about in 1800 when you guys said she first came along. 'But the darkness shall return upon the Night of 1000 Falling Stars, and her successor shall carry the blood of her veins.' What is that supposed to mean?"

"Wait a minute…" Xavier went over and looked at it. "'Her champion shall rise through the ashes of the darkness of tragedy'—that's the meteor hitting—'and neither brother nor sister shall be their strength.' That's it! That's why Zara and Zack are so weakened away from each other, because each holds the other's strength. But now that Zack is with Wake, he can't leave until the ritual's completed because he holds the key to her ascension."

"Hold on a second," said Kyra, "You said that Zack can't be Wake's successor in Zara's reality because he's both good and a mortal. But a lot of the other candidates don't have siblings. If this prophecy is definitely talking about the twins no matter what…I think I know who Wake's successor is in Zara's reality: Zara."

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara walked into the airport, carrying her backpack. She breezed right through security and then waited at the terminal for the first flight to the Caribbean.

"Zara."

Zara whirled around and saw Zack standing there. "Zack, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." He pulled out the log. "What's this?"

Her eyes widened. "Zack, I can explain…actually, I can't explain."

He sat down next to her and whispered the rest of the conversation. "You were spying on us for the Dark Side?"

"No!" she hissed back, "That wasn't me! …OK, maybe it was me, but it wasn't _ME_ me!"

"What?"

"It's a long story, OK? You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He looked at the clock. "Plane doesn't leave for over an hour. I think we have time."

"Alright…I'm not your sister. Or I am but not _your_ sister."

"What are you talking about?"

She sighed. "I'm not your Zara. I'm from a different reality."

"OK, there's something wrong with you, we've gotta get you to a hospital." He started to pull her off.

"No!" She pulled him back down. "Look, OK…I'll start at the beginning: Where I'm from, the meteor affected all 4 of us when we were in the tree house that day. Kyra and Nathan got the same powers they have now, but I was a wish-granter and a healer, and _you_ could make people's fears come alive…and you could kill." Zack stared at her. "That's what turned you evil. 'Cause, see…about a year later, we met the Loonatics and they were good, fighting on the side of good, they always were and they always would—no rhyme intended." Zack half-smiled. "And the 4 of us made a little side team called L-Force to fight with them. And we split up for a year, but we got back together…only to be split up again, but then we met these 6 amazing people and they were our friends and they helped us fight the Dark Side. We kept growing, they kept growing. Eventually, the fight got dirty. Deirdre put up a bomb in the Loonatics' tower and it exploded and put you in a coma and your power…messed with your mind while you were out of it. After a month and a half, you woke up and you weren't you. You were…evil. And this girl you really like and me…we were both so upset we lost you…we all were. So when 2 of our recruits left to join the Dark Side as well, I snapped. And I used my wish-granting power to wish you had never become evil and it brought me here. Now that I have no power, I'm stranded here. And I can't stand the thought of living in a world 1: that is slowly dying, 2: where the Dark Side rules, 3: where I'm evil and you have no power to help me, and 4: where I turned on you. I can't stand to think that I would actually turn on my best friends and my own brother, my only brother, my twin. So I'm going to the Caribbean to look for a special rock that it supposed to grant one wish per person and that will right this world's wrongs and take me back to the place I belong."

Zack stared at her for a few seconds and sighed. "OK, there are 3 possibilities: 1) this is some insane—and incredibly long—cover story for turning us in to the Dark Side for our resistance and you're using it to hold me off while you flee from this part of the country to ditch us; 2) you really believe that this is all true and I should take you to the nearest mental facility; or 3…your crazy story is the truth and I should trust you."

Zara half-smiled.

Zack took her hand. "I go with number 3."

Zara smiled. "Good answer."

Zack let go of her hand. "Wow. Some part of me was thinking you were about to go 'wrong answer' and flip me."

Zara giggled. "Yeah, even if I were evil, I would still have no power so I wouldn't be strong enough to do that."

Zack laughed.

_Meanwhile…_

Wake was in a dark room stained with blood.

The door opened and in walked Deirdre. "Good news. Val just came back with an update from Zara: it was her brother and his little friends that were planning the resistance. It'll be easy to crush them!"

Wake said nothing.

"You OK?"

Wake whirled around. "Did Valerie say anything about her going somewhere?"

"Something about a dream stone that's supposed to be in the Caribbean—"

Wake stomped her foot and the building shook, knocking Deirdre over. "She should've stopped her! Zara has betrayed us."

"Why would she do that? She wants her power back."

"Not that Zara. There appears to be another one in her place from an alternate reality where she is not ours."

"Whoa, wait, what?"

"It's a long story."

"Trust me, we've got time."

"Not a lot. As soon as she gets to the Caribbean, go after her. We cannot let her get her hands on that stone and get rid of me! And let me know if the plan does not succeed so that I will know to call my fellow hell-children and let them know to come and destroy the world with me. I've had my fill of ruling after all that exile in the Underworld I had to go through."

Deirdre nodded and started to leave. Then she turned back around. "Oh, one more thing: what do we do about the 'rebels'?"

"2 words: kill them."

"Alright, who do we send?"

"Whoever you think can make them suffer the most."

Deirdre smiled. "I know just who." She walked back into the main room of the building where 2 Vampires were feeding off of a dead guy. "Ace! Lexi!"

The 2 Vampires looked at her in their human guises. It was Ace and Lexi!

Deirdre smirked, crossing her arms. "I've got a little job for you…"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Are we sure about this?" asked Lexi.

"Well-since-it's-the-only-way-we-know-we're-gonna-get-Zara-back-we'll-have-to-at-least-try-I-mean-Duck-certainly-likes-her-so-at-least-he—"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Duck interrupted Rev, "I do not '_like her_' like her!"

"You-so-do-'like'-like-her."

"Do not!"

"Do-too!"

"Do not!"

"Do-too!"

Kyra sighed while this kept going. "It's just like on the playground. NOW STOP!"

The 2 fighting birds shut up.

"Our main priority right now is finding Zara wherever she is," said Kyra, "Now we're going to do this spell. And if it doesn't work right, we're headed straight to the Caribbean. Gail, Tree, Ore, get ready to literally work your magic."

The gang got ready for the spell and Gail, Trinity, and Orion prepared to cast it, being their 3 most powerful Witches (and Warlock) until Claire came around.

"Alright, let's do this thing," said Gail, lighting a candle, "You 2 ready?"

Trinity lit her candle and nodded.

Orion just kept trying to light his candle.

"Orion, now would be good."

"My lighter just won't—"

Trinity blew on it and it lit itself.

"Oh. Good." Orion threw his lighter aside. He closed his eyes.

Trinity closed her eyes, too.

Gail closed her eyes as well. "_A wish was made, now to be broken, some promises kept and some left unspoken; should the darkness rise, we now must take back the wish-granter's spell before all turns black…_" Nothing happened. She opened one eye and looked around. Nothing. She opened her other eyes and Trinity and Orion finally stopped waiting. Gail put out her candle, put it down, and looked at everyone. "Anything?" They all shook their heads. "Alright, let's go pack."

_In Zara's reality…_

"What do you mean you're gonna be gone for a few days?" asked Kyra into her cell phone.

Zack and Zara were in the middle of the flight.

"Look, we're just going to get something that we think may help us with the resistance," Zara whispered into the phone.

"We'll be back before the week is out, don't worry," said Zack.

"'Don't worry'?" Nathan grabbed the phone from Kyra, "How can we not worry when you both have no powers and yet are out there risking your lives for a resistance we're not even sure is gonna work?"

Zack glared at the phone. "Nat, could you say that a little louder? I don't think they heard you IN AUSTRALIA!"

Nathan glared back, then thought about that. "Right, sorry."

Kyra snatched the phone. "Just come back in one piece."

"Not making any promises," Zara mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing! Bye!" Zara hung up.

Kyra heard the dial tone and hung up, too. "I can't believe this."

"They always were a bit daring. Especially together."

"One of these days, we're gonna have to split them up."

"That'll happen on their own eventually."

"We don't know that." Kyra sighed. She grabbed her bag and headed out, Nathan following. "We better go after them." Suddenly, she was knocked down on the street.

Lexi smirked at her. "Let's see you try and resist this one." Suddenly, she felt a burning in the side and pulled away. Kyra had pulled a cross out of her bag. Lexi grabbed her by the throat and batted the cross away. "Just for that, I'm gonna kill you a little bit more than usual."

Before Nathan could start after her, Ace came up behind him and grabbed him. Nathan looked at him to see him in Vamp form.

"What's up with you 2?" Kyra asked, trying to get Lexi off, "You just defected, you weren't turned."

"Wrong!" Lexi said, "When some of your little 'rebel' friends stabbed us, Loraine had to work some magic to keep us from dying."

"Too bad you guys can't get the same," Ace said, leaning in for the bite.

Lexi leaned in on Kyra and Vamped. "Little message from Wake…" She bit her.

Ace bit Nathan.

After drinking for a while, Lexi let go and snapped Kyra's neck.

Ace did the same with Nathan and dropped him on the ground.

Lexi walked up to Ace and wrapped her arms around him. "It's no fun when they don't run."

"Don't worry, as long as Wake's happy." He pulled her off.

_Meanwhile…_

Zara and Zack landed in the Caribbean and made it to a hotel. They ran up to the front desk to ask for directions.

"Excuse me, do you know where we could find the Stone of Dreams?" Zara took a shot at the direct approach.

"No hablo Ingles."

"Never mind." Zara left, taking Zack with her. "Man, how are we supposed to find this thing?"

"If you want magic, look over there." Zack pointed out a magic gift shop.

Zara cocked her head and walked in. She started looking through the displays… "Aha!" She grabbed a map to the Stone of Dreams and took it to the counter. "How much for this?"

"$5."

"Oh. I don't know if I have…"

Zack came up to her. "That's 5 quazar-linium."

"I'll take it." Zara paid and left. "That was easier than I thought."

Zack looked at it. "Yeah. Because the map doesn't tell you where to start."

Zara looked at it, too. "Oh…" She started walking down the street, thinking. Then she noticed something on the TV. "Zack…"

Zack looked. "Oh, boy…" The news team from Acmetropolis was covering Kyra and Nathan's deaths.

Zara looked at her brother. "We have to get out of this world now."

"How? We don't know where to go."

Zara sighed. "There to be something…OK, look. Look at the picture of the coast that's an illustration of the battle that place off the West Coast of this island over 500 years ago! Let's go." She led him off. Eventually, they came to a gargoyle statue. She looked at the map. "Well, there's all this writing, but it makes no sense."

"That's because it's in Spanish. Hey, wait a minute, I took Spanish." He snatched the map and looked at it. He started translating, trying to read it… "OK…aha! It says the path will only open to the one who's intentions are pure."

Zara sighed. She started walking up to the statue. "That can't possibly be me. That's it: I'm only thinking about going back to my world, I'm not thinking at all about saving this one. And look at who I've become in this reality. My heart's not pure for this." She laid her hand on the statue and it started glowing. She noticed this and looked at it. She smiled as some of the foliage disappeared to reveal a pathway. She looked at Zack and the twins exchanged smiles before running off into the forest.

"I guess that because you were humble enough to admit that your heart wasn't pure, it knew your heart was despite who you are in this reality."

Zara smiled. "Well, like I said before: It's not me that turned on you guys."

Zack kept leading them down the path through the forest. Eventually, he stopped after getting tired of walking. "Wow, this may take a while." He then looked at her and noticed something was wrong… "Why are you getting taller?"

"Oh, because you're standing in quicksand." She then realized what she said.

They both looked down, then at each other, then down again.

"You're standing in quicksand!"

"Get me out!"

"Give me the map."

Zack handed her the map to keep it safe.

Zara took it, then started looking around for something to get him out with. She grabbed a giant tree branch and held it out for him to grab.

He took it.

She smiled when he had it. "Alright, 1, 2, 3!" She pulled and he got out.

He lie on the ground. "Well, that was fun. Give me the map."

Zara handed it to him.

Zack looked it over. "What do you know? Look where it says we are: Sinking Pit of Doom."

She noticed this. "Huh. You didn't notice that earlier?"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The gang loaded onto the shuttle.

"I can't believe there's room for all of us on this thing," said Willis.

"Well, there's only…" Tech did a quick head count, "28 of us and this thing was built for 30."

"Wow, we've really moved past 21st-century 8-seat vans," said Kyra.

Tech nodded, proudly, and started it up.

Everyone grabbed onto something as the doors closed and they all left. Within a half hour, they were in the Caribbean Islands.

"Alright," said Sandra, "I've always wanted to go to the Caribbean!"

"Well, the dream's probably gonna keep going," said Orion, "We're just searching for the Stone of Dreams and there's no telling how long it could even take to find the map."

Trinity raced up to them. "Hey, guys! Look what I just found in the magic gift shop! A map!"

"Seriously?" Orion grabbed it. "Oh. Well, it's obviously a fake. It doesn't tell you where to start."

Trinity looked at it. She looked around to make sure no one was watching. "_We must save our friend or her fate is sealed, show us the way, the path revealed._" She zapped it…it glowed…and nothing happened. "What—" She zapped it again, but her spell fizzled out. A few more times and still nothing. "OK, why is it not working?"

Tech grabbed it. "If it's the real one, it's gonna be enchanted." He looked it over. "OK, if I'm reading this right…AHA! Look at the illustration. It's making a reference to the fight that took place over 500 years ago on the West Coast of this island! Take that, Acme Tech historians!"

"Come on!" Kyra pulled them all off.

_In Zara's reality…_

They approached a large chasm.

"How are we gonna get across this?" asked Zara.

Zack looked at the map. "It says something about a bridge. There's no bridge. If we had magic or your wish-granting, we could make a bridge."

Zara sighed and started thinking… She noticed a tree. "I have an idea. Give your pocket knife." Zack gave it to her. She started cutting down the tree that was tall enough to stretch across the chasm.

"Do you really think that's gonna work?"

Zara stopped cutting halfway through and the tree collapsed and spread across the chasm.

Zack looked at it. "I guess so."

Zara started crawling across it and he followed her.

_In the real reality…_

The gang approached the gargoyle statue.

"Alright, let's see…" Orion looked at the map. "Good thing I read Spanish."

"As do I," said Trinity, taking it, "I bought it, let me see it."

"I took Spanish for 5 years," said Orion, "You took it for—what? 2 days?"

Trinity shrugged. "Well, I kind of peaked at 'habla Ingles?'"

Orion looked it over. "It says the path will only reveal itself to the one who's intentions are pure." He scoffed. "So me, obviously." He handed Trinity the map and walked over to the statue.

Duck and Xavier looked at each other and followed.

Orion put his hands on the statue. "Show me the way, open up, reveal the path!" Nothing happened. He cleared his throat to try again. "Show me the way, open up, reveal the path." Still nothing. "M-Maybe I translated wrong." He pushed Duck and Xavier aside, accidentally knocking them onto the statue, and went over to look at the map with Trinity again.

Duck and Xavier then noticed that the statue was glowing where they were touching it.

The path appeared.

"Fixed it!" Duck cried, walking through with Xavier.

The others noticed the path.

Orion raced after them. "Maybe it was a delayed reaction from what I did!"

_In Zara's reality…_

The twins were at a campfire, roasting marshmallows now that the sun had gone down.

"Nice job bringing marshmallows," said Zara.

"Oh, I always keep them with me."

Zara smiled. Then looked at the stars in the gloomy sky and started thinking. "You know the bad part about going home?"

Zack looked at her.

She looked at him in return. "I'm gonna lose you again. I can't lose you again."

Zack hugged her. "I'm not the real me, remember?"

Zara almost started crying. "Right."

_In the real reality…_

Slam was in the quicksand puddle.

Everyone else was holding onto a _REALLY _giant tree branch, trying to pull him in.

"Alright, 1, 2—" Kyra started.

"Why do we have to count to 3?" Nathan cried, "Just pull!"

They all did and fell backwards.

Slam glared at them. "HASFSGHTGJS SLIPPERY!"

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara and Zack trudged up the mountain the next morning to a mountainous area.

Zack looked at the map. "It says we need to find a cave."

"A cave? Somewhere in a mile of cliffs? That ought to be easy."

Zack looked over the words. "It says the one who knows the least will lead the way."

Zara looked around. "It's not talking about one of us, right?" She then noticed a little girl coming up to them.

"Cueva?" she asked.

Zara looked at Zack. "That was easy." She let her lead them off.

_In the real reality…_

The gang came up to the chasm.

"Alright, how are we supposed to get across this?" asked Ingrid.

"It says to build a bridge," said Orion.

"That's not gonna happen," said Trinity.

"With magic."

"That might happen."

Orion handed the map to Quinn and took out his wand. He waved it quickly and about a millions rocks came up from the river below and formed a bridge. "Alright, I can do something right. In your face, Tree!" He started to cross the bridge, but Trinity stopped him. "What?" Trinity bent down and picked up the smallest rock she could find. "What's a pebble gonna do to my—"

Trinity threw the pebble onto the bridge and it immediately collapsed. "Payback time: In your face!"

"Great, that plan's out," said Quinn, handing Orion back the map, "What do we do now?"

Trinity and Orion and Gail looked at one another…

10 minutes later, the gang was on 28 different rocks with the Witches (and Warlocks) holding them up and taking them across the chasm.

"Are you sure this is safe?" asked Lexi.

"Positive," said Raina, "It's just a simple levitation spell."

"Yeah, but there's 12 Witches…" Uma said.

"And Warlocks," Xavier added.

"…trying to take 28 people…"

"Including themselves," Raina corrected.

"…across a 100-foot long chasm. We each only have 2 hands!"

"Use your foot," said Ingrid.

Uma looked over her rock. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen."

Ingrid sighed, rolling her eyes. "And switch!" They each jumped onto the next person's rock and the Witches (and Warlocks) switched their holds on the rocks.

Orion glared at Trinity.

"What? You've gotta admit this is cool. And partially your idea."

"Yeah, but I don't know why you're always putting me down."

"_I'm_ putting _you_ down? You're the one that keeps getting my face with the magic and your grades and you don't let me date or anything—"

"I'm the brother, I'm supposed to watch out for you."

"I'm the older one, _I'm_ supposed to watch out for _you_. And switch!" They all switched again (they did it every time one of the Witches (or Warlocks) felt like they were tiring out their magic and needed to start a new spell). "I mean, come on! 'Orion's so perfect! Why can't you be more like your brother?'"

"Who says that?"

"Besides you? Everyone in our family!"

Orion looked at her. "I didn't know that."

"You wouldn't. You don't know me all that well."

"I'm trying. I love you, OK?"

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it."

"I do not! I'm overprotective! That's how I show it! And switch!" They all jumped.

"I feel your pain, Tree," said Howie.

Gail glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You with me! You're overprotective, and yet you don't stop picking on me! Those are the 2 worst—which are on opposite sides of the chart—combined into one!"

"I'm trying to—"

"Be my sister? Don't!"

"Howie, I have to!"

"Look, you're not my only family—"

"But you're mine!"

Howie stopped.

"I'm an orphan, you're an orphan, I have no idea where my adopted parents are…" They all looked at her. "…and my so-called 'best friend' left the country without a goodbye. How do you think that makes me feel? You're the only family I have left, I have to watch out for you."

"You're not his real cousin?" asked Kyra.

"If by that, you 'I'm not blood', then yes. But we're still family." She sighed. "And switch!" They all switched.

"Why didn't you tell us you were adopted?" asked Lexi.

"I told Zara. I just didn't know how you guys would take it, so I never got around to it. It's like with my telling you I was a Witch the first time we met."

Trinity looked at Orion. "You know what? We're brother and sister, we shouldn't be fighting like this. I don't want the same thing to happen to us that happened to Zara and Zack."

Orion sighed. "Yeah, I don't want that either."

Trinity smiled. "Well, I would hug you right about now, but we're suspended about 150 feet in the air."

"Yeah, that's a bit of a complication."

"And off!" Xavier called out as they reached the end of the chasm. He jumped off and dropped his rock. Slowly, the others all made it over there and got off.

"Oh, good, we're all in one piece," said Uma.

Trinity smiled and led them all off.

_In Zara's reality…_

The twins walked into the cave.

"Wow, it's dark in here," said Zara.

"Oh! I got this." Zack pulled out a match and struck it against the stone walls, immediately lighting it. "Ha!" A gust of wind put out the flame. "Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got." He threw the match away.

"Come on." Zara led him down the cave halls.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The gang was sitting at a campfire, roasting marshmallows.

"Boy, am I glad Duck doesn't just keep chocolate in his backpack," said Paula.

Howie looked at Gail.

Gail looked at Howie in return. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that I think this is the longest you've ever g—wait!" He looked at his watch. 3…2…1… "_This_ is the longest you've ever gone with insulting me."

Gail giggled. "Well, what do you want me to say? I've got a lot in the stash—"

"No, I actually like this. Let's try it."

Trinity laid her head on Orion's shoulder.

"Getting a little comfortable," Orion told his older sister.

Trinity backed off. "Right. Sorry."

"You know, I'm sorry."

Trinity looked at him. "For what?"

"Everything."

Trinity smiled. "I kind of knew that. I just wanted to hear you say it."

Orion smiled back. "Maybe you wouldn't have to…live in my shadow for the family if I wasn't so…perfect."

Trinity glared at him. "You know that's not true. They love you regardless."

Orion looked at her. "You know that goes both ways?"

Trinity sighed and went back to roasting her marshmallow.

Tech stared at this.

Lexi looked at him. "Hey. I think there's a group hug coming on sometime soon. You don't wanna leave a hole with that attitude of yours, do you?"

Tech looked at her. "It's just that…I keep thinking…" He looked at Duck and Xavier, who returned the look. "'Only those whose intentions are pure.' Look at Orion with Trinity there. How come it let you guys in and not him?"

Duck shrugged. "I don't know. All I could think about was saving Zara."

Xavier sighed. "And I had been thinking about proving myself to you guys, but then I realized 'there could be a life at stake here and I need to save her whether or not they trust me.'"

"Well, I was just thinking about saving Zara, too," Orion corrected. He then realized something. "And how great it would be if I were the one to do it. There's my answer."

Trinity hugged him. "At least you tried."

Kyra looked at Nathan. "What's gonna happen to Zara if we can't get the Stone and help her?"

"We will."

"How do you know that?"

"Because…we're a team, even with a few missing members. And with leaders like you and Ace, how can we not?"

Kyra smiled and hugged him.

"I thought you had a policy about no relationships among teammates—"

"Don't talk, just hug."

Nathan obeyed…smiling.

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara and Zack walked down a hall.

"How do we know this is the right way?" asked Zara.

Suddenly, all the torches in the hall lit up by themselves.

"I think it's the right way," said Zack.

"Good enough for me."

Zack sighed. "So in your world, I'm the evil traitor."

"I'm pretty certain it's not entirely your fault. You said something about being Wake's successor, maybe she's controlling you."

"Maybe."

Zara stopped walking. "Hey." Zack stopped walking about faced her. "I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna fix you. As soon as I get home, all of us are going to find a way to get you back to normal and get rid of Wake, I just know it. We're a team in my world. And we always will be no matter what."

Zack smiled. "Thanks."

Zara stopped smiling. "For what?"

"For everything."

Zara smiled again. "You, too."

Zack kept walking.

_In the real reality…_

The gang was asleep on the forest floor by the remains of their campfire.

Suddenly, Byron stirred and awoke. He jumped up. "Guys! Guys! Wake up!"

They all got up.

"What is it, By?" asked Sandra.

"Look! The mountains from the map!" He grabbed it while they all looked and saw that he was right. He looked at the map. "Ooh, it's so far away."

Lindy got up and turned the map over to let him know he'd been holding it upside-down.

"Oh, there it is again! We're so close!"

"Oh, give me that!" Quinn snatched it and led them all off. They followed him all the way up to a field just outside a mountains system. "I think we're supposed to find a cave."

"Somewhere in a mile of cliffs," said Duck, "Well, I'd like to see how that turns out."

Quinn read it. "It says the one who knows the least shall lead the way."

Lexi gasped. "Duck!" He glared at her. "Sorry, force of habit."

Duck started to say something, then stopped himself and sighed. "It's OK, I was just about to say me, too."

Tech took the map. "OK, that indentation corresponds with that indentation in the cliffs over there…"

Orion looked. "And that indentation matches that indentation in the mountains over there…"

Rev sped over. "Yeah-but-that-indentation-is-fairly-similar-to-that-indentation-in-the-mountains-over-there-and-that-one-over-there-but-considering-how-the-method-of-erosion-could-have-affected-the-change-in-the-past-few-years-since-this-map-was-printed—"

"Rev, what about that one?" asked Tech.

Ingrid then noticed some people herding sheep and pointed it out to Lexi.

"Well, yeah, but there's a bush there—" Orion started.

"Why don't we just ask someone?" asked Lexi, pointing out the people Ingrid had seen.

They all looked at her…

Tech and Orion and Rev went back to their map-reading.

Lexi threw her hands in the air. "Come on." She dragged Ingrid off to talk to the shepherds.

Duck interrupted Tech, Orion, and Rev's arguing. "Hold it! That one is next to patch of greenery."

"The whole thing is one giant patch of greenery, Duck!" Tech snapped.

Quinn interrupted them and pointed out Lexi and Ingrid going to talk to the shepherds.

Ingrid stopped on of them. "Uh, hi! Hey, uh, can you guys help us?" They didn't say anything. "English? No, of course not."

A little girl tried to come up to talk to them, but her mother stopped her and said something in Spanish.

Max looked at Quinn. "What'd she say?"

"'Stay away from the strange girls.'"

Lexi looked at her shoes. "Oh, thank you. They're new, actually—"

Quinn smacked his forehead.

Ingrid stopped Lexi. "Lex, let me deal with this one. I've been hanging out with Quinn long enough. Uh…we're looking for a…cave? Cave?" She started making a curved door with her hands. Nothing. "_HOLA! Hola! Hola…_"

The woman said something.

"'Is this is a reality show? What is she babbling on about?'"

Ace groaned.

Ingrid sighed. "Fine, I'll take this a different way. _In Spanish class, I took a nap then, how about a floating caption?_" She zapped the air, discreetly, and everyone except the shepherds saw a floating caption translating what the women were saying. "'I think she's looking for a cave.' Yes, yes! Uh…si! Si."

The woman looked at her friends, said something, and started smiling and nodding.

Lexi looked at the caption. "'Maybe if we just keep smiling and nodding, they'll go away'?"

Duck started banging his head against a tree.

Ingrid saw the caption change. "'I wonder why she looks like she's been sleeping on the ground.' Well, that's fair enough." The caption changed again. "'I wonder if she knows had bad her breath'—OH!" She swiped at the air and the captions disappeared. "OK, thank you! Thanks, just…don't know where the cave is!" She walked off.

Lexi followed. "Well, that was a complete disaster."

Ingrid then bumped into the little girl.

The little girl looked at her. "Cueva?"

Ingrid realized what that meant. "'The one who knows the least shall lead the way'… It's not Duck, it's you! Do you know where the cave is?"

The little girl and started to lead them off.

The others saw this and followed.

Ingrid looked at the girl. "I don't suppose you have a breath mint on you, do you? No, of course not."

The gang made their way up to the cave. They looked around in the darkness.

"Think you guys could shed some light here?" asked Nathan.

All the Witches and Warlocks attempted to cast their spells…to no avail.

Darryl sighed. "No magic. The cave must be enchanted."

"Guess we're on our own here," said Kyra, leading them off.

"Alright," said Uma, "Now all we have to do is watch out for the spiders. And the snakes. And the scorpions. And the bats. And the—"

"We get it!" Harry scolded.

_In Zara's reality…_

Ace and Lexi made their way up to Wake.

Wake smiled. "You've completed the task I required of you?"

"Yeah," said Lexi, "The little rebels are dead. At least they lived good lives."

"They were 17," said Deirdre.

"I said 'good', not 'long'." Lexi smiled at Wake again. "Can I play with the puppy?"

Wake turned to smile at her. "OK." She tossed her some keys. "Just don't take too long."

Lexi took the keys like an excited little girl (which she technically was) and raced off.

Tech came up behind her. "What's up with her?"

Wake smiled. "You're not a Vampire, you wouldn't know. It's an inside thing."

Lexi walked into a cellar. She slowly walked over to a furnace. "Daytime's the worst. Cooped for hours. Can't hunt." She picked up a lead pipe. "But the mistress said I could play." She started running the pipe along the bars of a cage. "And you know how I love to play." She tossed the pipe aside and unlocked the doors before walking into the cage. She knelt down on the floor beside someone in chains. "Don't you?" She kicked her, knocking her onto her back on the floor. It was Trinity! "You remember how I used to play with that brother of yours. Well, guess what? Your little friend, Zara, turned on us. And she's going after the Stone of Dreams. So now Wake's gonna jumpstart her apocalypse and she's calling all her fellow hell-children up to earth. All those people you and you little bro tried to save…this world will be nothing but a memory." She grabbed her by the arm and Vamped. "What do think of that?" She bit her in the arm.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zack led Zara into a chamber of the cavern. He then noticed a bunch of tiny jewels lying on the floor. "It could be any one of these."

Zara tapped him on the back and pointed at the end of the chamber. "I'm guessing it's that one." A glowing purple one was on a stone pedestal.

Zack nodded. "Good guess." He started to walk across a bridge to it…

_In the real reality…_

The gang was walking down a hall to the cavern.

"Man, this has been a long trip," said Trinity.

"Yeah," said Orion, "I'm glad it's almost over."

Trinity shrugged. Then she stopped walking. "Hey." Orion turned around. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I'm your sister. I shouldn't be hard on you."

"I heard you the first time. I just wanted to hear you say it again."

"You little twerp!"

"You're the twerp!"

They looked at each other. "But you're my twerp." They hugged.

Howie glared at Gail. "Why can't we get along like that?" He started down the hall.

"Howie, wait!" Gail stopped him. "Look, I love you. Alright? That's the problem. You're my family and I'm supposed to help you."

Howie sighed. "I'm sorry. But you're not family and you're not my cousin."

Gail stared at him sadly.

"You're like my best friend or my sister."

Gail smiled and stared to hug him. Then she stopped. "Wait…come again?"

Howie smirked. "Nice try. I'm not saying it again."

Gail giggled. "Fair enough." She hugged him. "Come on." She kept leading him down the hall.

_In Zara's reality…_

Zack finally made it off the bridge. "I made it."

Zara smiled.

Zack took one step and hit a trick step. The cave started to collapse. Zack ran for cover. After about 15 seconds, it stopped.

_In the real reality…_

"Are you OK?" Kyra asked Ace.

"I'm fine…where's the Stone?"

Lexi, closed off from the others by a piece of the rock ceiling, saw something glowing beneath her. She looked over the ledge and saw the Stone lying on a ledge. "I see it!"

_In Zara's reality…_

"I have to get it!" Zara called, "I think I can reach it if I climb down there!"

"What?" Zack cried, "No, you can't!"

"I have to try!" Zara shouted, "We don't really have a choice here!"

_In the real reality…_

Ace nodded his approval to Lexi.

Lexi leaned her foot over the edge and started to let herself slide down. She rested her foot on ledge and then her other foot on a lower ledge and kept one hand on the floor.

_In Zara's reality…_

Slowly, Zara started to reach for the Stone. She leaned further and further down, reaching out for it…until finally…

_In the real reality…_

"Got it!" Lexi cried.

Kyra sighed with relief.

Lexi started to climb back up…when she slipped and started falling. She grabbed on to the floor with both hands, but couldn't climb back up when her feet were slipping and one of her hands was busy holding the Stone. "ACE! Help!"

_In Zara's reality…_

"ZACK! Help me! Pull me up!" Zara screamed.

Before she could fall, Zack came up and grabbed her free hand. "I got you!"

_In the real reality…_

"I won't let you fall!" Ace started to pull up Lexi. Finally, he got her up. "You still have it?"

_In Zara's reality…_

"Yeah, I got it!" Zara said, holding up the stone.

Zack took it. "Yes! Now you can go home."

Zara thought that. "Yeah…yeah, I can…go home." She took the Stone back. "Let me make the wish." She held it up as it started glowing…

_In the real reality…_

Kyra held up the Stone…suddenly, it was yanked from her grip and flew at the door.

Cici took it. "Newsflash: you're looking for a rock and leaving tracks in the mud."

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara raced after Cici, but she ran off as fast as possible. By the time she caught up with her, it was too late. She sighed. Now she was stuck.

_In the real reality…_

Kyra turned back to the others. "I can't believe it. We've lost her forever."

"Now that hardly sounds something you would—" Nathan started.

"It's over, Nathan!" Kyra scolded him, "If the Dark Side has the Stone, we're all doomed. There's no telling what Cici already wished for and it's possible that they may wish they had everything for the ritual to be complete…"

_In Zara's reality…_

"…and then it's over."

Zack sighed. "We can get it back, I know we can."

"No, we can't. We really can't. I'm stuck here in this horrible world."

Zack then got an idea. "Maybe there's still a way."

Zara looked at him.

"You didn't really think that smart old Kyra was about to plan an uprising with just the 4 of us, now did you?"

Zara smiled. There were still members of L-Force that weren't dead or evil!

_In the real reality…_

"Maybe there's still a way," said Tech, "I mean, we've faced the Dark Side before and won."

"We had Zara."

"And they had me," said Xavier.

"And we had Jake and Val."

"Yeah, I can't beat that."

"But they don't have Claire," said Cassandra, "And we've gotten more recruits since then."

"So have they."

"Come on," said Gail, "I'll bet Zara's already doing the same thing in her world."

Kyra thought about this. Zara was crazy enough… She smiled. "You know what? I think this just might be crazy enough…to barely scrape by."

"Good enough for me!" Nathan cried, pulling them off.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Zara and Zack had collected Sandra, Darryl, Gail, Howie, Paula, Ingrid, and Quinn. Assuming it was enough, they were now headed for the Dark Side's building…and no one was there.

"They must be preparing to do the ritual," said Zara, "Which means there's a chance Cici hasn't gotten back yet. Come on!" She led them into the building. "Spread out." They did. She took the cellar. She walked in…and noticed the cage and the injured coyote girl inside. "Trinity?"

Trinity whimpered and looked back at her.

Zara sighed. "What'd they do to you?"

Trinity whimpered again and crouched down in a corner, still chained to the wall.

Zara then saw the lead pipe lying in the corner. She grabbed it and went over to the lock. She hit the lock with the pipe, breaking it open. "Stronger than I look. And feel." She shrugged and tossed the pipe aside before going into the cage. She started trying to let Trinity out.

"W-Who are you?"

"Let's just say I'm a friend."

Trinity then got a good look at her. Her eyes widened and she backed into the corner.

"What's wrong?"

"Y-You did this to me…"

Zara realized what she was talking about. "I brought you in here?"

"Locked me up…put me in chains…tortured me…killed my brother."

Zara started breathing faster. "Oh boy…I killed Orion?"

Trinity nodded, whimpering.

Zara shook her head. "No, that wasn't me."

Trinity calmed down a little.

"It wasn't me who did that. Get it through to your head, Zara!" She took a deep breath. She looked back at Trinity. "Hold on a second. I'm gonna get you out of this." She went back up the stairs and poked her head out the door. "Pst! Ingrid!"

Ingrid came up to her. "What—whoa!"

Zara pulled her down the stairs and up to Trinity. "Get her out."

Ingrid nodded and went over there. She stared at the lock on the chains and aimed as hard as she could so as not to hit Trinity… Finally, her heat vision turned on and the chains melted off. She helped up Trinity. "Come on, let's get you out of here." She helped her up the stairs with Zara and they met the others in the halls.

"Alright, everyone, the Dark Side must be somewhere," said Zara, "I mean, there's probably a specific place where they need to do this ritual…" Her eyes widened. She recognized the building. It was the old warehouse where the Dark Side had first been staying. There must have been a reason they picked the new place… "And I think I know where." She led them off.

_In the real reality…_

The gang was back at the hideout, gathering their weapons to assemble against the Dark Side.

Kyra grabbed a COMM unit and hooked it up to her watch. With one beep, it was hooked up. She started handing them to the others. "We need to stay in contact in case the Dark Side decides to split up. After all, the moon is going down and at least 5 of their recruits are Vamps." She finally came to Xavier.

Xavier looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Only those whose intentions are pure…"

Xavier took it. He reluctantly hooked it up to his watch. Beep. He looked at Kyra.

Kyra smiled. "Welcome to the team."

Xavier smiled.

"Let's head out."

Meanwhile, Cici came into the Dark Side's building and tossed the Stone over to Deirdre, who caught it easily.

Deirdre examined it.

Wake came up and took it. "I'll mess with it, thank you very much." She examined it. "Let's get to it."

_In Zara's reality…_

Deirdre took the Stone from Cici. "Good work, C."

Cici smiled.

Deirdre tossed it to Ashton, who put it in a box and locked the box shut. "Now let's do this thing."

Wake stepped onto a pedestal and knelt down on it. She placed her hands on the platform and a dark light shaped like a pentagram burned through it. "I, Wake, daughter of evil, call forth my brothers and sisters, that we should ascend to the surface realm…and conquer it…and destroy it."

_In the real reality…_

Wake walked around her room, inspecting the pentagram carved on the floor. "Deirdre? Do you wanna do the honors?" She tossed the Stone to her.

Deirdre looked at it. She half-smiled. "Why don't we let Zack do it?" She handed it to him.

Zack looked at it. He prepared to make the wish—

An arrow zoomed by and knocked the stone from his hands.

He looked and saw Kyra standing there with a crossbow. "You know, you have impeccable aim."

"I know. That's what allows me to do this." She, without looking, aimed and fired at Astrid, hitting her in the chest with the bolt.

Astrid took out the arrow and smirked. "That was amazing! It was like an inch off the target! But still…" She snapped the arrow. "…missed me!"

"Meant to."

Astrid realized what that meant. She whirled around and grabbed Ace's Sword before he could strike her. She head-butted him, knocking him back.

Ace held up the Sword and moved again…

_In Zara's reality…_

"…the darkness shall rise—"

Darryl knocked the door down.

Wake stopped her chanting and turned to look at him.

Zara walked forward with Zack.

Wake smirked. "Kill them."

The fight started.

_In the real reality…_

Valerie and Willis were facing off.

"Why are you doing this, Val?" Willis asked her.

Valerie scoffed. "Will, don't you get it? You're on the losing side. Plus…I feel like I belong here."

"Can't trust your feelings, Val."

"'Cause it's not my power?"

"'Cause it'll tear you apart. That satisfaction you got when you killed that guy? Was it worth it the first night you couldn't sleep?"

Valerie looked at him. She tore her gaze away from him. He was right. "You can't control me, you know."

"I'm not trying to."

"Just back off!" She drew her claws and jumped at him.

He instantly bent what light was in the room to blind her and struck her with a burst of electricity, knocking her through the wall. Wait…"through" it? He looked around.

She jumped out of the wall behind him and tackled him.

Jake pinned Arra to the wall.

"This isn't you, Jake."

"What does it matter anymore?"

"I care about you too much to let you just give in to them. You have a soul, Wake doesn't. She's a hell-spawn!"

"Are, don't you get it?" He pushed her against the wall and let go of her.

"Do you?"

"When Wake rises, she's gonna give the Dark Side the second-in-command position. Don't you wanna be in charge here?"

"How do you know she's gonna follow through? How do you know she won't just discard you when she's at full power and has no need for you? I don't wanna see you die—"

"Just leave me alone!" He inadvertently manipulated the air atoms around her, depriving her temporarily of oxygen. He noticed this and forced himself to push the unused oxygen against her, knocking her into the corner. He stared at her and raced off.

Arra got up, gasping for breath. She looked where he'd been standing to see that he wasn't there. She sighed and collapsed on the floor.

_In Zara's reality…_

Zara and Zack collapsed in a corner.

"We can't keep fighting, Zack," Zara said.

"We have to, Zar."

"Zack, both of us are mortals in this reality. We can't—"

"You were always the one pushing me to keep on. Well, now I'm telling you that we can do this!" To reinforce his point, he slammed his fist against the table they were next to and knocked off the box on it, making the box fall to the floor. This broke the lock. The Stone fell out.

Zara saw it. She grabbed it. "The Stone…"

Zack knew what that meant. "Careful! You only have one wish."

Zara looked at him.

"You know…if you word it right, you can go home and still save me and this world. Just wish yourself back to your old world and take me with you."

Zara looked at him… "No."

_In the real reality…_

Kyra looked at the battle ensuing around her. She didn't see the Stone. Her friends were going down. They were losing.

_In Zara's reality…_

"What do you mean 'no'?" Zack asked her.

"I mean no. I love you, I do. But…it's much more than that…"

_In the real reality…_

Kyra raced over to Ace. "We have to fall out! We're all gonna die…"

_With Zara…_

"…I know we can save you and stop Wake. But to do that…it's almost like I need you to be evil."

_With Kyra…_

"We have to go now!" Kyra started to lead the others out—

Zack slammed the door shut and locked it…

_With Zara…_

"You're what's holding me together…I can't live without you…but you have to trust me on this."

_With Kyra…_

Zack started to get his knife out—

Priscilla tackled him…making the knife pierce her…

Claire saw this and raced over. As Zack pushed Priscilla off, she jumped him…making him push her into the wall with the knife…

_With Zara…_

"Besides, we may need you on the team, but we're gonna get more recruits. I just gotta learn to get used to the idea that you can come back…but this isn't the way. You can't just wish something the way you want it. I should know about that by now."

_With Kyra…_

Duck and Zack were in a fight while the others started to go back to fighting the Dark Side. Zack grabbed him and pushed him into the wall, knocking him out. He grabbed him by the throat…

_With Zara…_

"This fight isn't something we can win, with or without you. But it's not something they can win either. One soldier doesn't end a war. I need you…but I need my friends back, too, and we're not gonna get that if you go all kooky again."

_With Kyra…_

Deirdre grabbed Nathan and handed him to Loraine…

_With Zara…_

"This world's gonna fall apart if one of us gets too into the fight. So we really need each other holding each other down."

_With Kyra…_

Meredith grabbed Lexi…

Ashton grabbed Ace…

Josephine got at Trinity…

Astrid took down Gail…

_With Zara…_

"I can't take you back with me anyway, it might take our powers—no. It's my wish, I make the decisions…" She held up the Stone…

_With Kyra…_

Wake made her way over to Kyra and grabbed her…

_With Zara…_

"And I want everything to be exactly the way it was!"

_With Kyra…_

Kyra started to fall to the ground, dying—

Kyra's eyes snapped open. She looked around.

The gang was back in the hideout.

Duck looked around.

Raina, Uma, and Harry were at the door.

Ace and Lexi looked at each other.

Tech and Orion grabbed Trinity.

Howie looked at Gail, nervously.

Kyra opened the door and Xavier walked in. He looked at her. He remembered, too. She looked at Nathan. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Zara." She raced off and down the hall at top speed. She came to Zara's room and opened the door quickly… "Zara!" She looked around the room. Zara wasn't there. She sighed, sadly. She turned around… "AAHH!"

Zara smiled. "Did you miss me that much?"

Kyra smiled.

The 2 hugged.

Xavier raced up to her.

Zara looked at him and her eyes widened.

Kyra noticed this. "It's OK, he's with us."

Xavier smiled. "What'd you do?"

Zara slowly half-smiled.

Xavier sighed. "You didn't take Zack back, did you?"

"I couldn't. I've recently learned how dangerous a wish can be…and I'd probably have to give all you guys up if I took him back."

"Oh, Zar…" Kyra squeezed her tighter.

"Kyra…no…oxygen!"

"Oh, sorry!" Kyra pushed her off.

"Is Duck OK?"

Duck quacked up to her. "Just fine."

"Aw…" Zara hugged him. As soon as the others started loading into the hall, she let go.

_Back with the Dark Side…_

Wake opened her eyes. She scoffed and got up from the floor.

Deirdre looked at her. "What happened?"

"It's that stinking wish-granter. She drives me crazy. I mean…she doesn't even think we're so close to finishing the ritual." She cackled.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

Yay! I finished it really fast, didn't I? Uh oh, the ritual's almost over! Can they stop it? You'll have to keep reading to find out... (ominous music plays) Bye!


End file.
